I picked up the Kettle River in Washington State, north of Spokane. I originally had thought of doing a painting at Kettle Falls but never saw a turn-off or any indication that there was such a place, although I did get gas in the Town of Kettle Falls. I asked the pierced young lady behind the counter if there were falls and where would they would be. She shrugged and mumbled something which I took to mean she didn’t know. I haven’t worn my hearing aids since I left and my ears ring/hum from the sound of the motorcycle. The hearing aids don’t help much in that scenario anyway. Ear plugs are probably in order. The road I was on followed the Kettle river into British Columbia all the way to Grand Forks (a very nice quaint little town) where I spent last night. I stayed in the municipal campground right on the river. You’ll remember that the internet was very slow and I was unable to make much in the way of a post. Tonight I’m in Cache Creek, west of Kamloops in a motel and have good internet.

The nice lady at the Info Center signed me up with a spot at the Municipal Camp ground. When I went in to see about it, there was another motorcyclist in there getting a spot too. Turned out I was given the space right next to him. He is a firefighter from Vancouver in Grand Forks here to talk to the guys at www.canoeshop.ca to see about getting his canvas/wood canoe restored. Really enjoyed spending some chat time with Eric. If you read this Eric, let me know how your canoe turns out.

This morning I was up early (time change) and slipped down to the river to take a look see and wound up doing a little watercolor sketch of the river which is what this whole trip is supposed to be about. It felt good to paint and actually accomplish something.

You can tell by the serious look that I was totally engaged. Here’s the result:

I was sure that the Kettle River had some significance because it was pretty long and everything along the way had the name Kettle River in it some how. Turns out that it is a tributary of the Columbia River and is 175 miles long. I think I rode 170 mile of it. Very scenic.

Finally I got to Kamloops which is a pretty good sized city, the last place I wanted to be but I wanted to get a T-shirt from the HD dealer there. I finally found it and I will have to say I was not very impressed. A bit hard to get to and they had a very small parking lot. I found a spot I could fit in and hoped I could back it out with out a problem. What parking was there was pretty crowded. The T-shirt selection was very limited because they were at a rally about 150 clicks (that’s Canadian speak for kilometers…see I’m fitting right in) east and had taken most the shirts there. I found a good one but not the one I wanted. Anyway…

I couldn’t help but notice that ever since I turned at Spokane, the countryside looked really dry, even into Kamloops. When I finally stopped here for the night I asked the young lady behind the counter at the Bonaparte Motel why it was so dry, expecting her to whine about the draught or something. I know that rain has been sparse in the Northwest US and Southwest of Canada with way above average temperatures. She surprised me by saying “It’s a desert silly”. Hmmm…I suppose so but there are mountains, of a sort, and pines and it sure looks like high country to me. Maybe its a high country desert. Everything is very brown, a real departure form what we saw last year and what I was expecting. A bit disappointing I might add.

Even though I left Grand Forks at a leisurely 10:00 AM this morning after getting a few groceries and converting some green backs for Canadian money, it seemed like it took forever to do my 297 miles today. The high winds I battled most of the day really took it out of me too. I didn’t get near as far as I thought I would but I am riding according to my plan and not hurrying. I had forgotten how far everything is from anywhere else up here and how long it takes to get any where. WOW!

Oh, well I’m not in hurry and enjoying it immensely. On to Prince George tomorrow where I turn left toward Prince Rupert. As I get farther north, I suspect the internet to become less and less so don’t be surprised if I can’t post much of anything but will catch it all up when I can. Mike out.